As Trump’s 8 August deadline nears, a devastating wave of Russian drone and missile attacks kills 26 in Kyiv—highlighting the growing urgency for a ceasefire deal.
Kyiv awoke to scenes of devastation on Thursday as Russian forces unleashed one of the deadliest attacks on Ukraine’s capital in months, killing at least 26 people—including three children—and injuring 159 others. The assault came just days after former US President Donald Trump issued a high-profile ultimatum demanding a ceasefire agreement by August 8 or face renewed economic sanctions on Moscow.
Among the victims were a six-year-old boy and his mother. Ten bodies, including that of a two-year-old child, were recovered from the rubble of a residential building in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district. Officials confirmed that more than two dozen locations across the capital were hit in the early hours of Thursday morning, in what Kyiv’s mayor called the worst single-night toll for children since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Despite Trump’s explicit threats of harsher sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not relented. Instead, Russia launched 309 drones and eight cruise missiles in the latest overnight barrage, according to Ukraine’s air force. While many were intercepted, cruise missiles penetrated Kyiv’s defenses, leaving a red-orange glow of destruction in their wake.
Trump, who earlier set a 50-day ceasefire deadline in July, unexpectedly shortened it during a UK visit this week to “ten or 12 days,” expressing frustration with Putin’s failure to rein in the offensive. “We were going to have a ceasefire and maybe peace… and all of a sudden you have missiles flying into Kyiv and other places,” Trump said, hinting at a breakdown in private assurances from the Kremlin.
At the UN Security Council, acting US ambassador John Kelley called for both sides to negotiate a ceasefire, reiterating that President Trump’s expectations remain unchanged: “This must be done by 8 August.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as a brutal rebuttal to international efforts for peace. “The world has yet again seen Russia’s response to our, America’s, and Europe’s desire for peace. More demonstrative murder,” he posted online. “This is why peace without strength is impossible.”
Beyond residential areas, the blasts shattered windows at a children’s hospital ward in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district and damaged a kindergarten, a school, and a university. Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called it a “horrible morning,” stating there were still people trapped under the rubble. He added that Trump had been “generous and patient” with Putin but warned that it was now time to apply “maximum pressure.”
Meanwhile, on the eastern front line, Russia claimed it had captured Chasiv Yar, a strategically significant town in Donetsk. Ukraine denied the claim, stating that heavy fighting was still ongoing. Analysts from DeepState, an open-source military tracking group, confirmed that Russia had gained ground in parts of the town but emphasized that the battle was far from over.
Control of Chasiv Yar, situated on high terrain, would offer Russia a tactical advantage over key Ukrainian-held cities in the region. Concern is also rising over Pokrovsk, located southwest of Chasiv Yar, which analysts now describe as the most vulnerable and active combat zone in the war.
As Trump’s ceasefire deadline approaches, the latest escalation raises critical questions about whether threats of sanctions alone can shift the trajectory of a war now in its third year—and whether time is running out for diplomacy to succeed.